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Gregg Hein, who broke his leg on a solo hike in the Sierra Nevada mountains, recovers at the Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, Calif. on July 16. The 33-year-old hiker from Clovis, Calif., who was stranded for six days said that survival mode kicked in when he treated his own injury and he sought sustenance by eating crickets and moths, and drinking melting ice.

California Hiker With Broken Leg Ate Bugs to Live

Recovering at a Fresno hospital, Gregg Hein, 33, said Wednesday that he was a couple days into a solo hike high in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks northeast of Fresno when a large rock crushed his right leg above the ankle.

After letting out a yelp, the Clovis man said his first thought was treating his dangling leg and protruding bone to boost his chances of making it out alive. He briefly considered applying a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, a move that he knew would end with an amputation.

Rather, Hein said he used hiking gear to wrap and secure his leg, and then he scooted to a flat clearing with a good vantage point to wait for rescuers. He had left his heavy pack behind, and the few insects he could scour at arm's reach hardly filled him up. He blew a whistle, hoping its echoes would catch somebody's attention.

Back home, Doug Hein reported his son missing two days after he didn't return home as planned. Rescuers searched on foot and from the air. A helicopter crew eventually spotted the hiker July 10 and lifted him to safety.